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UVic: Engineering & Computer Science Expanded Qualifications essay

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I am applying to Computer Science at UVic because I have spent the last year building things that other people actually use, and I want the formal training to build them better. After my high school's tutoring sign-up sheet kept getting lost, I wrote a small scheduling web app over three weekends so students could book sessions online. It was rough, and the first version double-booked two tutors, which taught me to write tests before I trust my own logic. Roughly forty students used it by spring. I am not the top of my math class, but I am the person who stays with a bug until it is fixed, and who explains the fix so a teammate can follow it. That persistence, and the habit of building for real users rather than for marks, is what I would bring to the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science. I am using Expanded Qualifications because my project work shows a preparation my transcript only partly reflects.
What it’s really asking

This essay should outline why you wish to enter the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science and explain how the activities you list in your Personal Information Profile contribute to your preparation and motivation for success as an engineer or computer scientist.

Why they ask it

Engineering and Computer Science are high-demand programs, and this pathway lets applicants whose grades may fall short demonstrate hands-on preparation and genuine motivation. The reviewers want to see that you have done relevant building or problem solving and that you understand what the program involves.

Three ways in
Lead with something you built

Open on a project you made or a problem you engineered a solution for, then explain what it taught you about the discipline, instead of opening on a claim about technology in general.

Show iteration through failure

Be honest about a bug or a failed first version and what you changed as a result; iteration and debugging are core engineering qualities the reviewers respect.

Tie motivation to this faculty

Connect your interest explicitly to the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science and to becoming an engineer or computer scientist, not to a vague love of tech.

✕  Weak opening

“Technology is the future, and I have always wanted to be part of building it.”

✓  Strong opening

“After my high school's tutoring sign-up sheet kept getting lost, I wrote a small scheduling web app over three weekends.”

✦ Annotated example · Computer Science, built for real users. Written by EssayLens to teach, not a real applicant’s essay. Tap a highlighted line →
I am applying to Computer Science at UVic because for the last year I have built software that other people genuinely depend on, and I have hit the exact walls that make me want formal training to climb them properly. 1The walls are real. My school's peer-tutoring sign-up was a paper sheet on a hallway wall that kept disappearing, so over three weekends I wrote a small scheduling web app in Python and Flask that let students book sessions online. The first version was rough. It double-booked two tutors in its opening week because I had assumed two requests could never arrive in the same second, and of course they did. 2That bug taught me to write tests before I trust my own logic, and to treat the database, not my assumptions, as the source of truth. I added a uniqueness constraint and a test that fires two bookings at once to prove it holds. By spring, roughly forty students had used the tool, and the paper sheet was gone for good. 3I want to be candid about where I stand. I am not at the top of my math class, and my grade 11 functions mark is the weakest line on my transcript. 4What that mark does not show is that I am the person who stays with a defect until it is actually fixed, then writes the fix up clearly enough that a teammate can follow it without asking me. When a classmate took over the app this year, he was able to add a cancellation feature from my notes alone, which I count as the real test of whether I understood my own code. 5I am drawn to UVic's co-op program specifically because it puts students in front of real users and real deadlines, which is the only setting where I have ever learned anything that stuck. 6I am applying through Expanded Qualifications because my project work shows a preparation my transcript only partly reflects. The code is on a public repository, the commit history shows how I work through a problem, and any reviewer is welcome to read it. I would rather be judged on what I have built and how I fixed it than on a single line of marks, and I am bringing that same willingness to be checked, corrected, and improved to the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science.7
  1. 1States subject motivation in the first sentence and frames university as the next step, which is precisely what UVic rewards over autobiography.
  2. 2Concrete project with a named stack and a specific, honest failure. Admitting the double-booking bug is more credible than claiming flawless work.
  3. 3Shows learning from the failure with a specific technical fix. This is evidence of how the applicant thinks, not adjectives about being a hard worker.
  4. 4Confronts the academic gap plainly and early, the honesty an Expanded Qualifications reader is looking for.
  5. 5Reframes the limitation by pointing to a strength the grade cannot capture, with a concrete proof point (a peer extending the code unaided).
  6. 6Names a specific, well-known UVic feature (co-op) and ties it to a demonstrated working style, showing genuine fit rather than generic praise.
  7. 7Closes by offering verifiable evidence (a public repo with commit history) and circling back to fit. Ending on checkable proof matches UVic's preference for concrete evidence.
Stuck? Start here
  • What is the most substantial thing I have built or engineered, and what specific problem did it solve for a real user?
  • Where did my project fail, and what did that failure teach me about doing engineering or CS properly?
  • Why this faculty and this discipline specifically, beyond a general interest in technology?
Before you submit
  • I describe at least one concrete project or build, with the problem, the fix, and the result.
  • I connect my activities directly to preparation for success as an engineer or computer scientist, in those terms.
  • The essay names the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science and stays within one page in the required format.

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